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Letters - Misled or forewarned? Readers give their take on the Mueller hearing

Some readers say the Democrats need to let go of the Mueller report but others say the allegations of Russian meddling in U.S. elections are alarming.

On top row, from left, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking member, and Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, join on bottom row, from left, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, and Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, listen as former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies to the House Intelligence Committee about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, on July 24, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Maligning an honest man

What I observed of Robert Mueller's testimony was Republican leaders impugning the reputation and integrity of an honest man in the defense and support of a dishonest one. An ugly, dispiriting sight.

Phillip Miller, Double Oak

GOP stands by its man

The Mueller hearings were really two different hearings rolled into one. The Democrats were trying to gain insight into the Mueller committee report. The GOP was playing a politicized version of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man."

James E. Wells, Irving

Changed burden of proof

The key line from the hearing occurred when Rep. John Ratcliffe asked Robert Mueller if he could give an example of when exoneration was used as a legal standard by a prosecutor. Mueller responded: "I cannot but this is a unique situation." Mueller admitted under oath that, because of the circumstances, he and his team consciously chose to disregard the guidelines for prosecutors set out in Department of Justice rules and regulations.

A prosecutor's view of a "unique situation" does not allow that prosecutor to alter the very foundation of the American judicial system, i.e., the presumption of innocence. The American judicial system is supposed to be blind and requires that all persons be treated equally, even if that person is the president.

Ratcliffe did not allow Mueller to explain the "unique situation" and how it necessitated a change in the burden of proof. Such an explanation would have shed light on many of the special counsel's decisions.

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Regardless, Mueller admitted that he consciously chose to change the burden of proof regarding an investigation of Trump and this admission is sufficient to call the findings of the report into question.

Michael B. Abramson, Atlanta, Ga.

Legislators, help save democracy

I watched the hearings with Robert Mueller and it is clear we have a corrupt president. Although my elected officials — Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Kenny Marchant — are Republican, it is time to put country over party and help save this democracy. We need to get this cancer out of the public body. It is truly frightening when money and power are all that matter to our leaders.

I fear for my grandbaby's future on issues including the environment, gun violence, health care and national debt. The situation of children at the border separated from their parents and held in squalid conditions makes me nauseated. And the continuous lies are exhausting. Please is there no bottom?

If Cornyn, Cruz and Marchant are going to reply and blame Democrats, forget it. My thoughts are on the record as a lifelong Texan and constituent in Congressional District 24 for 32 years.

Jane Moore, Coppell

Impeach this president

After watching the Mueller hearing, as well as seeing our criminal president in action for the past three years, it is long past time to begin impeachment hearings. He's a liar, a traitor and an embarrassment to the entire nation. If members of Congress don't do their jobs, they will easily lose them.

American citizens deserve respectful, respectable and law-abiding leaders. Enough is enough. We are also sick of Republicans in Congress as they have done nothing except lie, cover up for the president and probably also take money from Russians. Their time here is done. The only thing they can do to gain any respect at all is to impeach this president. Let's get it started.

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Linda Cavness, East Dallas

Reason to begin impeachment

So Robert Mueller did not have anything to say about President Donald Trump's role in the Russian meddling in the past? Or Trump's "love" of WikiLeaks, which was how the Russians meddled in 2016? Nothing about Trump's team of "the best people" and the president not able to tell the truth regarding their contacts with Russian agents?

The probe was chartered to uncover what happened in 2016. Your headlines seem to ignore that idea in favor of glossing over the role the president and his team had in helping the Russians. But it is precisely that aspect of the probe which should keep the issue of impeachment on the table. If the president aided and abetted the Russian trashing of Hillary Clinton in order to help him to get elected, that should be enough reason to begin the impeachment process.

Stephen Love, Northwest Dallas

An array of transgressions

I have lived in the twilight zone since the election of Donald Trump. While I have considered my own thinking to be rational, I've been surrounded by a mist of nonsensical, unprincipled, outrageous static emanating from this president, who nonetheless has apparently mesmerized many others. The haze deepened in the aftermath of Robert Mueller's testimony to Congress.

Mueller himself was crystal clear as Democrats confirmed with him an array of Trump's and his associates' transgressions: his campaign's prolific coordination with the Russians during the election, his efforts to curtail the investigation and his witness tampering. Mueller unequivocally responded that Trump was not exonerated by his report and that the reason a charging decision was not made was because of the Office of Legal Counsel ruling that you cannot indict a sitting president. In his testimony, Mueller indicated Trump refused to be interviewed in person and that his written answers contradicted other evidence and were evasive.

Afterward, as the fog rolled in, Trump took a victory lap and declared it had been a good day for the Republicans and himself.

Linda Johnston Arage, Waxahachie

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A huge nothing burger

I guess $25 to $30 million doesn't quite buy what it used to. Robert Mueller looked old, tired and at times befuddled during his testimony. It's obvious he didn't write that entire 400-page report, let alone, may not have even read it. His expensive staff of mainly Democrats tried to make chicken salad out of you-know-chicken-what. This huge nothing burger reminds me of when Geraldo Rivera made the big deal of opening Al Capone's safe, only to find it completely empty. The reporter's failed smile face told it all, just like today's hearing with the Democrat's last try at resurrecting their hopes for some impeachment fodder falling flat on their collective faces.

Perhaps now we can get on with governing and solve the immigration crisis at the Southern border — $25 million would have bought a lot of beds and diapers.

Anton Skell, Plano

Did Russia influence you?

Question: When you went to vote, in the 2016 election, how many of you were influenced by Russian meddling? If you were, how? I wasn't. In fact, when I went to cast my vote, I wasn't sure why I was going because according to all the news outlets and all their statistics and projections, they had Hillary Clinton with enough Electoral College votes for winning the election. I went anyway and voted.

It wasn't until late that evening when I finally turned on my television to see how bad Donald Trump was losing that I saw he was actually ahead. From that point on, I became totally engrossed in the results. The next morning, I read Trump had won. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought he could. The American people spoke as to who they wanted for president. It wasn't Clinton. No Russian influenced my vote. Did they yours?

Kevin Loyd, Grand Prairie

Fake news or exoneration?

On the one hand, the president and his supporters claim the entire Mueller report is fake news, a witch hunt and a hoax and on the other that this fake news "totally exonerates" President Donald Trump's efforts to thwart the investigation. Which is it?

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The president and his supporters claim outrage at the Mueller investigation, and yet, they delight in birtherism, swift boating, the incessant Benghazi investigations, not to mention the allegation about Sen. Ted Cruz's dad's involvement with the JFK assassination. Our president governs by throwing smack against the wall just to see what will stick. We deserve better.

I reread the pre-election Jon Meacham article in Time magazine from July 2016. Everything he predicted about this presidency has come to pass. Trump creates problems so he can fix them. That is how the president operated before and now after the election.

There was hope he would rise to the expectations of the office. There was hope he could bind the wounds of losing the popular vote.

My Republican friends can only shrug: The experiment failed. It is time to move on and get back to the work of the people with compassionate vigor, without Russian help.

Ross Vick, Dallas/Oak Cliff

Headline says it all

"Mueller: Russia is Still Meddling." That was The Dallas Morning News' takeaway from the Mueller hearing? You've got to be kidding me! If your readers ever wanted proof of "fake news" tell them to look no further than that headline. I've never seen a more blatant attempt to mislead the public.

Dale Foster, North Dallas

Reason for Lenin to smile

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I'm glad that I watched the House hearings with Robert Mueller. Had I merely read the Wednesday papers (The Associated Press, et al., to be fair) I would have been spun and misled. History tells us that the Western left, media and academe were employed by Russian propagandists and referred to as Vladimir Lenin's useful idiots. After watching the Democrats and television sock puppets, I would say that Lenin is smiling in his glass coffin.